Punters bet on Kate having a blonde princess to be named Alice

royals

Gordon Rayner
– 20 April 2015 03:00 AM

Cambridges and George

KATE Middleton will give birth today to a blonde daughter called Alice, according to the instincts of the British betting public.

Despite the fact the royal couple do not know the gender of their second child, punters are convinced they have inside information, and around 90pc of bets have been placed on the arrival of a princess.

Industry insiders say a Princess Alice would cost bookies around £500,000 (€692,000) in payouts to those who staked money on the sex or name of the Duchess of Cambridge's second child.

Despite the seeming impossibility of anyone knowing the name, so much money has been placed on Alice that the odds with Ladbrokes are as short as 5-4, despite there being thousands of possibilities.

"The support for Alice is starting to get silly now, but we've been left with no option but to cut the odds as punters relentlessly back the girl/Alice combination," said Ladbrokes' Jessica Bridge.

"Two people have bet more than £2,000 (€2,768) each on the baby being a girl, helping to shift the odds to 8-15 for a girl, with a boy now an 11-8 shot."

It would appear to be a case of the blind leading the blind - the chances of a boy or girl are 50-50, and there have been no reports suggesting the a name has been chosen.

However, punters were right about the name George last time, making it the overwhelming favourite before the little prince's birth.

Alice is such an overwhelming favourite that the next most fancied name, Elizabeth, has comparatively long odds of 6-1, as does Charlotte, with Victoria and Diana both at 14-1.

Carole, the Duchess' mother's name, is a long shot at 40-1, though the Duchess' father's name, Michael, is 25-1 - the same odds as for Charles.

Because so little money has been placed on a boy, the odds on boys' names are even longer. Arthur and James, the two most fancied, are both at 20-1 at Ladbrokes.

Punters can even have a flutter on the baby's hair. Blonde and brown are both offered at 6-4, with red and black at 5-1.

If the baby is born tomorrow, he or she will share a birthday with Queen Elizabeth, who will be 89.